How Contestants Work Out While They're on 'The Bachelor'

There are always a million good reasons not to work out. Maybe you don’t have enough time, you just washed your hair, or you don’t want to leave your couch alone for that long. We get it. We're not judging you, either. But if anyone has a good excuse not to work out, it's not you. It’s the contestants on The Bachelor and The Bachelorette.

The contestants are filmed at all hours of the day and night, and their dates can sometimes go from 7:00 AM to midnight. On top of everything else, the famous bachelor mansion doesn't even have a home gym.

"There's no workout room here."

"There's no workout room here," former contestant Molly Mesnick told The Ashley. Since the producers are always looking for drama, the contestants aren't allowed to watch movies, listen to music, read books, or leave the mansion's grounds. The goal is to make sure the women or men spend as much of their time as possible lounging around, eating, drinking, and talking about the Bachelor or Bachelorette (which doesn't sound like the healthiest way to spend your week, if you ask us). So to keep themselves fit while they're on the show, the contestants have to get creative.

"There's a hill in the back that girls would run up to exercise."

When contestants had space to themselves, some said they would use their time doing pilates, crunches, or push-ups in the room. Others teamed up to work out. "There's a hill in the back that girls would run up to exercise," said Molly Mesnick. J.P. Rosenbaum, the winner of the seventh season of The Bachelorette, admitted that "some of the guys were in better shape than others," but they liked working out together anyway. "Working out formed a camaraderie between everyone."

Some contestants didn't stop there. "At the bachelor mansion, we had no weights--nothing at all," former contestant Chad Johnson told Bodybuilding.com. "All I knew is it was back day, I had a weight belt, and the only thing that came to mind to be used as weight was my 60-pound luggage with a handle that would easily attach to my belt."

"The only thing that came to mind to be used as weight was my 60-pound luggage with a handle that would easily attach to my belt."

After a few weeks, the remaining contestants usually hit the road. Traditionally, the show travels to different locations around the world until the finale. Working out can become a little easier once they're staying in a hotel--but not by much. "They take you down to the gym, usually alone," contestant Courtney Robertson told Allure. "You get 30 minutes, which is pretty short. I would usually do the elliptical or run on the treadmill and then do crunches."

"You get 30 minutes."

After learning all this, a 10-minute drive to the gym doesn't feel like that big of a deal. What do you think?